This week, Google and HP announced a high-end Chromebook 13 which is ultra thin and features an anodized aluminum chassis.
The HP Chromebook 13 sports a 13.3-inch QHD display running at 3,200 x 1800 resolution. It is company’s first Chromebook to use a 6th-generation Intel Core M processor and is available with up to 16GB of RAM. It is only 12.9 mm thin and weighs 1.29 kg. The device comes with an optional HP Elite USB-C Docking station and port replicator accessories that turns the Chromebook 13 into a full desktop solution. It comes with 2 USB-C ports, a USB 3.0 port, a headphone jack, and a microSD card reader.
The Chromebook 13 also comes with Bang & Olufsen-tuned, machine-grilled dual speakers above the keyboard. HP claims 11.5 hours on a charge of the 45 watt-hour battery and features USB Type-C fast charging. The HP Chromebook 13 is expected to be available in April, with a starting price of $499.
HTC has introduced One S9 in Germany, which has a similar design as the M9s that was introduced last year in China. It packs a 5-inch 1080p display, is powered by an 2.2GHz Octa-Core MediaTek Helio X10 (MT6795T) Octa-Core 64-bit processor and runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with HTC Sense UI on top.
It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash, optical image stabilization (OIS) and a UltraPixel front-facing camera. It has dual front-facing BoomSound speakers and Dolby Audio. The HTC One S9 comes in Gold, Gunmetal Grey and Silver colors, is priced at an RRP of 499 Euros (US$ 563 / Rs. 37,425 approx.) and will be available purchase in Germany starting from mid-May.
Meizu announced m3, successor of last year’s m2 at an event in China. It packs a 5-inch HD screen with 2.5D curved glass display, is powered by a 1.5 GHz octa-core 64-bit MediaTek MT6750 processor, compared to the MT6735 SoC on the predecessor and runs on YunOS with FlyMe 5.1 on the top. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, phase-detection auto-focus (PDAF) that lets you focus in just 0.2 seconds and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
It has a hybrid SIM slot that lets you use the second slot as a microSD slot when required and also comes with 4G support on both. It has a poly carbonate body and lacks a fingerprint sensor.The Meizu m3 comes in Gold, White, Grey, Blue and Pink colors and is priced at 599 yuan (US$ 92 / Rs. 6,150) for the 2GB RAM with 16GB storage version and 799 yuan (US$ 122 / 8200 approx.) for the 3GB RAM with 32GB RAM variant.
Samsung launched Gear 360, its first 360 degree virtual reality camera in Korea, as it had promised at the Developer Conference earlier this week in San Francisco. It was announced that the MWC 2016 earlier this year, comes with dual fish-eye lenses with 15 megapixel image sensors and can capture high-resolution (3840×1920) 360-degree video that also supports 30 megapixel still images.
The Samsung Gear 360 is priced at 399,300 Korean Won (US$ 350 / 23,300 approx.) and is available for purchase from Samsung online store in Korea. We checked out the Gear 360 at the MWC, check out the hands-on video below.
httpv://youtu.be/-jlhuXqIy1Y
Lava launched two budget smartphones – A72 and A76 and said that it will launch another budget A89 smartphone soon. All these have 4G LTE support with VoLTE, powered by 1.5GHz quad-core SoCs, pack 1GB of RAM, run Android 5.1 (Lollipop) and come with LED flash on the front for capturing better images in low lighting conditions. Display resolution of the these smartphones are not known yet. Most other details can be seen here.
The Lava A72, A76 and A89 smartphones are priced at Rs. 6,499, Rs. 5,699 and Rs 5,999, respectively.
Lava’s sister company, Xolo launched its first power bank – the X060. It has a capacity of 6000mAh and is merely 7.9mm thick. It has aluminium body and LED lights to indicate the discharge percentage. You can light press the “on” button to output and indicate power. The indicator light goes out after 15 seconds standby and automatically turned off after 120 seconds standby.
It has one USB 2.0 port for 5V-2A output and takes 5V-2A input using micro USB. The battery is made by Hongtai and can charge fully in about 4.5 hours. The Xolo X060 6000mAh power bank comes in silver and grey colors, is priced at Rs. 999 and is available exclusively from Amazon.in.
Huawei announced Honor 5C, the company’s latest smartphone and the successor of last year’s Honor 4C. It has a 5.2-inch 1080p IPS display with 74% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by an Octa-Core Kirin 650 16nm SoC, runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with EMUI 4.1 on top, has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 8-megapixel front-facing camera and also has a fingerprint sensor.
The Huawei Honor 5C comes in Grey, Silver and Gold colors and is priced at 899 yuan (US$ 138 / Rs. 9230 approx.) for the standard variant and 999 yuan (US$ 138 / Rs. 10,250 approx.) for the dual 4G variant.
Panasonic launched Eluga I3, the company’s latest smartphone in the Eluga series with support for 4G LTE and VoLTE. It has a 5.5-inch HD screen, is powered by a quad-core processor, runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with FitHome UI, has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It has textured back and comes with dual-SIM support.
The Panasonic Eluga I3 comes in Champagne Gold, Rose Gold and Marine Blue colors and is priced at Rs. 9,290.
Philips recently introduced SpeechAir, its new voice recorder powered by Android Kitkat developed by Speech Processing Solutions. It has three microphone, a 360° microphone for recording dictations and meetings, a directional microphone for speech recognition, specifically designed for ambient-sound environment and a MEMS microphone for taking VoIP phone calls.
All the SpeechAir recordings are encrypted in real time using AES, 256-bit. In addition to Corning Gorilla Glass protection, the device also has shockproof body of US military standard 516.6. The Philips SpeechAir is targeted at legal and medical professions and will be available in two versions – PSP1100 and PSP1200. No details about the pricing yet.
Gionee launched Marathon M5 Plus, its latest smartphone in the M series with a 5020mAh battery in India. It has a 6-inch 1080p Super AMOLED 2.5D curved glass display with 77.5% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by a octa-core MediaTek MT6753 64-bit processor, has 4G LTE connectivity, unibody metal build and also has a fingerprint sensor.
Asus launched the Zenfone Go 4.5 smartphone with a MediaTek MT6580 SoC back in December last year. This week, it launched the second generation Zenfone Go 4.5 with a Snapdragon 200 SoC. It comes in two variants, one with a 5-megapixel rear camera and a VGA front-facing camera, while the other variant has a 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. Other specifications are the same, including a 4.5-inch FWVGA, 1GB of RAM, Android 5.1 (Lollipop) and 3G support, but it has a larger 2070mAh removable battery.
The Asus Zenfone Go 4.5 (2nd Gen) comes in Glamour Red, Ceramic White, Yellow, Silver Blue, Gold and Silver colors, is priced at Rs. 5,299 for 5MP/0.3MP variant and the 8MP/2MP variant is priced at Rs. 5,699. It will be available on Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon.in, Paytm, Shopclues and in Asus exclusive Stores as well as offline stores.
Amkette launched EvoTV2 Smart Streaming Android Media Player. The device allows users to stream content like movies, songs, games over WiFi. The EvoTV2 is powered by ARM Cortex A5 1.6GHz with ARM Mali 450 MP4 and has 1GB RAM, 8GB of internal memory. It runs Android 4.0 and comes with 4 USB ports and micro SD card slot. Connectivity features on the device includes Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi802.11b/g/n, ethernet and HDMI.
It also features 7.1 Digital Surround Sound. The device offers a wide range of national and international TV shows and access to 200 apps and more. The Amkette EvoTV2 costs Rs. 6,999 and is exclusively available from Snapdeal at a discounted price of Rs. 6,499.
Swipe Technologies launched Elite Note, the company’s latest smartphone with 5.5-inch HD display. It is powered by 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek processor and runs on Android 5.0 (Lollipop) with Swipe’s own Freedom OS on top. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It has dual SIM support and 4G connectivity.
The Swipe Elite Note comes in Black color, is priced at Rs. 7,999 and is exclusively available from Flipkart.
Motorola introduced the Moto 360 Sport in India. The Sport version of the Moto 360 has built-in GPS that works seamlessly with Moto Body to track your distance traveled, pace, lap times and more. It can also work with Android fitness apps.
It has AnyLight hybrid display that lets you see things clearly both indoors and out. Indoors, it works like a LCD screen, if you go outside, it reflects natural sunlight, making the screen easy to read. The Moto 360 Sport comes with a black strap, is priced at Rs. 19,999 and is exclusively available from Flipkart.
Lastly, Reliance Communications briefly listed its 4G LTE based MiFi pocket router on its e-store. The Mi-Fi router comes with a built-in battery and sports a microSD card slot with external memory of up to 32GB. It supports all three bands on which Reliance Jio and Rcom plan to operate their LTE services – 3, 5 and 40. The Reliance MiFi device also has a built-in battery of 2300mAh which the company claims to offer a backup time of around 5-6 hours.
The listing read that the device is capable of delivering downlink speeds of up to 150 Mbps and uplink speeds of up to 50 Mbps through multi carrier aggregation. Also, a single unit can support 31 simultaneous users. The Reliance e-commerce portal shows the price of MiFi device Rs 3,199, however, the company is offering a Rs 500 discount after which the price comes down to Rs 2,699.